Rockbridge is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in northern Ozark County,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, United States. It is the site of an old mill on spring-fed

Spring Creek A spring creek is a type of free flowing river whose name derives from its origin: an underground Spring (hydrology), spring or set of springs which produces sufficient water to consistently feed a unique river. The water flowing in a spring cree ...

, a tributary of Bryant Creek, which still houses the post office. It lies twelve miles north of Gainesville on Missouri Route N, approximately one-half miles north of Route 95. The narrow valley floor is only about wide and at an elevation of and the Ozark ridges on either side are higher.''Rockbridge, Missouri,''7.5 Minute Quadrangle, USGS, 1973

History

The town was founded in the 19th century by pioneer families from Marion County, Kentucky, led by Captain Kim Amyx. The community was burned down during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and rebuilt after the war.''A History of Rockbridge''
/ref> A post office called Rockbridge has been in operation since 1842. The community was named for a natural rock crossing at a nearby spring. Rockbridge was once the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of a greater Ozark County, encompassing today's Ozark and parts of Douglas and Howell counties. Rockbridge Mill 2

Springs

This community is in a

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

region, with caves, springs, and natural stone bridges nearby. Four springs feed the mill pool and Morris Spring, which forms a small pool along the road below the dam. The Rockbridge Spring has a flow of and the Morris Spring has a flow of . The springs flow from the contact between the Roubidoux sandstone and the underlying Gasconade dolomite. The community is now owned by the ''Rainbow Trout & Game Ranch and Rockbridge Gun Club'', founded in 1954, and includes a trout fish hatchery. About five miles to the northwest above the Bryant Creek floodplain in Douglas County is Assumption Abbey, a

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

Rockbridge Road

Rockbridge was a central point along the old Rockbridge Road (or Rockbridge–Springfield Road) established before the Civil War as a freight road between

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

and Springfield. The road was used first for the transportation by wagon and ox team of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

from the

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

s of Arkansas to the growing market in Springfield. Following the railroad's arrival to Springfield, the freight usage shifted to

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

which was hauled from northeast Arkansas to Springfield by

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey, and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two ...

team until after the Civil War.''Pioneer Rockbridge Road connected Springfield with Arkansas,'' Ozarks Mountaineer Magazine, July 1958, page 15
/ref>

References

External links

Rainbow Trout & Game Ranch and Rockbridge Gun Club

Assumption Abbey
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Ozark County, Missouri Unincorporated communities in Missouri